Four men who were arrested, allegedly without proper cause, have instituted a civil claim against the minister of police for damages they say stem from their unlawful detention.
Danavian Baartman, 23, Muarice Libalouw December, 25, as well as Elizitanio Luigi, 24, and Shanley Vaaltyn, 21, are each claiming R300,000 after they were arrested and locked up for allegedly stealing a car battery in November 2014.
In papers presented to the Port Elizabeth High Court, the four men, all from Rosedale in Uitenhage, claim they suffered reputational damages, discomfort, shock, pain and deprivation of freedom after being held in custody at the Kamesh police station from November 15 to 17 2014.
Represented by attorney Wilma van der Bank and advocate Hannes le Roux, the four allege they were detained for an unreasonably long time.
On Monday, Baartman testified that on the night of the arrest he came across the men near Fourways, Rosedale, when one of them said he was looking after a friend’s car.
Baartman was told that the owner of the car had gone to fetch petrol because the car had run out.
According to Baartman, after they had waited a number of hours in vain for the owner to return, they had decided to remove the car’s battery and take it to Vaaltyn’s home “for safe keeping”.
Shortly after the battery was removed police arrived.
All four were then taken to the Kamesh police station and booked into the cells at 1.45am and only released from custody on the Monday morning after appearing in the Uitenhage Magistrate’s Court.
The charges were withdrawn on that Monday after consultations with the state prosecutor.
Le Roux told acting judge Vinesh Naidoo that the owner of the vehicle would testify that he had indeed asked the men to look after his car.
The case continues.